Concordiat Ascendant
by Sithking Zero
Summary: Two galactic superpowers are on a collision course. One, a union of alien races thousands of years old. The other? A race of hairless monkeys from a blue world, and their Hellbore-equipped, artificially intelligent tanks... For the Honor of the Regiment!
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Concordiat Ascendant

A fanfiction by Sithking Zero,

Detailing a first contact between the Turian Hierarchy and the Citadel Council

With the Concordiat of Man.

Disclaimer: Keith Laumer (Rest In Peace) is the owner of Bolos and the Concordiat. Bioware and EA Games own Mass Effect. I only own my own ideas of what would be freaking sweet.

_It was the year 3156 AD, and humanity had expanded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Five hundred worlds were now the property of the human race, with all its members united for the first time. Ruled and managed by the Concordiat of Man, the species that had gone from horse-drawn buggies to atomic rockets in the span of a century had gone even further. _

_Humanity hadn't done it alone, though. For wherever the human race went, they found enemies. And enemies were something that humans knew very well about, having had plenty of them back on Terra. So, they called upon their oldest, wisest, and strongest of friends that they knew of, and unleashed them upon the stars. _

_And so, the alien learned to fear and respect the race of Man and their titanic Bolos. _

_A Bolo is an artificial intelligence with the body of a tank, first produced in the year 2000, and the start of the Third World War. They can mass upwards of fifteen thousand tons. They can destroy ships in orbit from the ground. They have no mercy for the Enemy. They know no fear. They are unstoppable. And yet they are more human, at times, then their human partners and friends. Theirs is a tragic lot, for whilst other life forms (ranging from humans to Asari to Turians to even the Rachni) search for their meaning or purpose for their whole lives, a Bolo knows as soon as it is rolled off of the assembly line what its purpose is. _

_To Kill. To Fight. To Die. To protect humanity and all of Mother Terra's daughter colonies, and all the life they shelter. _

_And over a millennium after the first General Motors Bolo Mk. 1 Model B rolled off of the assembly lines in Detroit, Michigan, on Terra itself, this was the task they were once again called upon. _

_Though none knew it at the time, this would be the beginning of a great many things, as well as an end. Alien eyes, be they organic or synthetic, slit pupil or round one, gazed upon the confrontation between the two alien galactic superpowers. _

_And it all began nearly ten years before that fateful day… _

AUGUST 31, 3156 (Earth Date). LOCATION: CLASSIFIED. SOURCE: CLASSIFIED. COMMANDER: CLASSIFIED. PRIORITY: ONE. FIRST CONTACT WITH UNKNOWN ALIEN RACE.

General (censored,) this is (censored).

After hushing up the crew of the _Laumer_, we proceeded to investigate the alien artifact they found, and quite frankly, sir, it could change so much I can't believe it. According to the reports, this thing has been active for at least fifty thousand years, but probably a lot longer. We haven't found any sign of who built it, or why, or how, but it's easily larger than a dozen superdreadnaughts. It doesn't appear to have any sort of weapons systems, but we're still looking. There's an untranslatable language in the computer systems, but it bears a minor resemblance to Deng script. We're having (censored) put it through the wringer for us. The way his processor lights up, I'd swear he was a little kid. We haven't got much in the way of

TRANSMISSION CEASED

SEPTEMBER 1, 3156 AD (Earth Date). LOCATION: CLASSIFIED. SOURCE: CLASSIFIED. COMMANDER: CLASSIFIED. PRIORITY: ONE. FIRST CONTACT WITH UNKNOWN ALIEN RACE.

General, I apologize for cutting off the transmission before. There was a small incident. We managed to translate something from the artifact, though it was mostly (censored)'s doing. However, while the modified Deng script he came up with works, it's far from perfect. We do know what it is, though. It's apparently something called a (and this is a rough translation, mind you) "Gravity Catapult." It's capable of, apparently, sending objects or starships through tunnels of space which apparently works instantaneously. That's right, instant FTL transit. We sent probes through the catapult, and we found another one. Apparently, they're part of some sort of network. Both of the Mk. XXVI's are checking into the programs of the catapults now.

Recommendation: We try to find and make contact with the creators of these catapults. These things can transport ships and cargo across thousands of light years in an instant. Even if we have to go to war against them (and you of all people know our track record with other powers is hardly what you'd call (and pardon the pun) "stellar,"), we could still learn so much from their ships or soldiers.

Addendum: The probes that were launched through the catapult detected a star in close proximity to it. They have also sent back proof that there is a binary planet system in the Goldilocks Zone, with an O2-Nitrogen mix similar to that of earth. If possible, we might want to start thinking about colonization out here, and help relieve some of the pressure from the old Center Worlds.

THE NEW DETROIT TIMES

January 17, 3157 AD

NEW ALIEN RACE; BINARY COLONY WORLDS FOUND

The scientific community, as well as the military and the Human Colonization Command (HCC) are all abuzz over the discovery of a mysterious alien artifact found floating in space, as well as the new discovery of a rare binary world system that is capable of sustaining human life.

The alien artifact is absolutely massive and shaped like a glowing tuning fork. The first people on the scene were members of the Xenoarchaeological Study from Valhalarama, lead by doctor Marticus Ivanovich.

"From what we can determine, the artifact is a sort of "Gravity Catapult," a type of device designed to propel ships and cargo to faster-than-light speeds. More excitingly, we have found that it's part of a… "network," if you will, and that there are many more out there that we haven't found yet."

The catapult was activated accidentally by a military probe, which came back nearly a day later with startling news: another catapult was at the other end, as well as an entire star system. This lead to the discovery of a rare binary planet, both worlds capable of sustaining human life, with gravity of 1.1 G.

"It's an exciting time," says the representative of ExoSolar Enterprises Lisa Trevor. "With an artifact to study, and with a double world capable of sustaining human life, we could be seeing a lot of money flowing through this area."

No word has come from the Concordiat itself as to what to do with these new discoveries, but a special session of Parliament and the Senate has been convened to determine the fate of these discoveries.

(Advertisement seen on May 5, 3157 AD)

THE CONCORDIAT NEEDS YOU!

Are you adventurous?

Do you want to see distant worlds?

Do you want to work in the fields of construction or repair?

Do you want to work with the most cutting edge alien technology imaginable?

If you answered yes to any of these, then the Concordiat has needs of people like you!

The new worlds of Talus and Shangxi are open and ripe for the taking, and we need people to help us make our colonies strong.

Stop by your local recruitment office for more information on the colonization program.

(Paid for by Exosolar Enterprises and the HCC)

THE NEW DETROIT TIMES

February 23, 3162 AD

MORE ALIEN RUINS FOUND; CREATORS OF THE CATAPULTS?

A mere three days after the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Shangxi colony, xenoarchaeologists made an amazing discovery: an underground city, dating back to the time when the infamous Gravity Catapults were supposedly brought online.

"We know so little about the races that came before us," says Marticus Ivanovich, "With all our amazing advances, it's easy to forget that we're still relative newcomers on the galactic stage. There are signs that this underground city was abandoned nearly fifty thousand years ago, which seems to be when the catapults were last used, but it could simply be a coincidence. These could be allies of the people who built them, and then they left when it became unprofitable. There is very little information of these people's history, their art, their struggles… we don't even know what they look like!"

What has been found, however, is a large amount of technology. Designs for FTL drives, weapons, armor, anti-gravity, and more have been found in these ruins.

"It's not that great," says Albert Fondant, a member of the dig team. "If this had happened a thousand years ago, this would have been a big deal. But a lot of this stuff's obsolete by our standards. The FTL drives mentioned aren't as fast as the catapults, and heck, they're slower than the ones we use. And the weapons systems… we've had better ones since the Mk. XIII Bolos, and the same goes for computer software and hardware. The anti-gravity is something that we might want to look into, though." Upon being asked how he knew all of this, he responded, "I'm a veteran. I served with the Dinochrome Brigade for a long time, so I know a thing or two about military technology."

Meanwhile, the new Catapult Exploration Forces are ready to start working. Commissioned by the Concordiat, they will explore the network and try to make contact with whoever built the catapults…

BLACK BOX RECORD

DATE: Classified

TIME: Classified

Location: Classified

Vessel: Concordiat _Nike_-class destroyer _Primrose_, under command of the CEF

Status report: We've been out here for nine months now. If it wasn't for Rosie, we'd have gotten lost or gone insane so many times it isn't funny.

Private Jenkins seems to have a talent for sniffing out catapults, to the point where the ship has started a betting pool on when he'll be wrong as to which systems have the catapults. It's currently up to twelve thousand credits. I would discipline them, but I'm in for at least three hundred and twelve.

Marcey gave birth three weeks ago; a little baby boy. I know, I know, we should have gone back, but when we left, she didn't know she was pregnant. Rosie's set aside one of her berths for her and little John.

We've seen at least seventeen systems, and sixteen contain planets that could sustain human life (though some would require sealed environments, what with toxic atmospheres and high pressure). We have detailed them further in our report.

Yesterday, we activated the relay in the local star system, which we're calling Malon, and we're ready to go through it tod-

(shuffling noises, muffled voices)

What?

(More voices)

Send out a probe, and hail them on every channel.

(pause, beeps, more voices)

No response? But-

_Captain, the unknown vessels have undergone a massive energy surge._

An energy-? Son of a bitch, they're hostile! Rosie, prepare to engage! All hands, bat-!

(loud explosion. Life signs aboard bridge drop to zero. Chaotic rumblings and explosions before the AI goes offline and communications stop.)

(This information was recovered after the Turian-Concordiat War, in the year 3179 AD, from the debris of the _Primrose_ after it had crashed into Malon VI, a rocky planetoid.)

April 17, 3163 AD

Excerpt from a Recording of the President Archanon

Speaking to the Concordiat Parliament

My Fellow Humans,

It is an honor to once again stand before you. For nearly a thousand years, mankind has strode the length and breadth of this spiral arm, expanding and growing. We have grown far from our origins, that of simple hunter-gatherers, but here, in Kenya, we are so close to our original home one could simply step outside and imagine that we have come full circle.

And we have gone even further. Our Concordiat has over a thousand worlds under our domain now, and is still expanding. Humanity has become one of the most powerful life-forms in the known galaxy!

But it has not been without cost. No, it has not. The wars against the Quern, the Deng, the Harpies, and many others proved that without a doubt. But we stand here today, alive and well, because we have stood against the darkness and remain triumphant.

We have had two hundred years of peace, glorious peace. Two hundred years full of art, science, and prosperity. We have more success and wealth than ever before.

But today I stand before you not as a man who speaks of the past, and who expects things to continue as is. The present, as is the future, is forever fluid. Things change rapidly, and to not prepare for the future would be stupid at best, and disastrous at worst.

I speak, of course, of the catapult network.

It has been seven years since we first discovered the catapults. Seven years have been full of wonders and new discoveries, including powerful new medicines, better antigravity, new forms of power generation, and even new worlds, such as Shangxi and Talus.

But there has never been a time in human history where man has not made an advance of such epic scale and had not turned it to the purpose of war. When man first split the atom, was it not used to create the atomic bomb? When industrialization was first put into practice, how long was it before this capability was used to create weapons? How quickly was fire used in the early struggles of man against other men?

But now, despite all that we have done, how far we have come, we are little different. For we have made a new discovery… and a possible new enemy.

For we have seen that we are not the only ones who can turn the power of science to the purpose of war.

Oh, we have seen it before, with so many other races, but never have we been so in the dark as to what we are dealing with than we are now.

My aides have been trying to keep this information from leaking for the past few months, but a pattern is emerging, and it is not one that I like. No, it is not something I like at all, and the military doesn't like it either.

The point of the matter is that the ships sent to explore the Catapult Network aren't coming back. As of last month, over fifteen ships have disappeared without getting a single SWIFT message off… and the disappearances have been getting closer.

We don't know who or what is responsible, but at the rate of disappearances, we are not taking chances. By our best estimates, this unknown force will arrive at Shangxi within the next twelve months. We must prepare ourselves…

-DISCONTINUITY—

_GMBMK2614565-MRK: What do you calculate is the probability of success against the Enemy?_

_GMBMK262588-GNV: Asking me this is not logical. You can calculate the odds as well as I._

_GMBMK2614565-MRK: My Commander is asking me to ask you. He feels that multiple viewpoints are essential to forming a well-made conclusion. A wise policy._

_GMBMK262588-GNV: Then tell him the same thing you told him: the odds are unknown. We know nothing about the Enemy. They were able to destroy Concordiat Frigates without a hint of warning. The nearest reinforcements of destroyers and dreadnaughts are a month away. If a determined enemy on the scale of a Deng main battle fleet attempts to take the Twin Worlds, then there is an 87.576 percent chance of them being able to do it._

_GMBMK2614565-MRK: That low? I postulated it to be 0.984 percent higher. If only more money had gone into colonial defense than in the new exploration corps, we could have had a decent home defense fleet. Centerpoint Station may or may not hold._

_SYSTEM ALERT: ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNSCHEDULED CATAPULT ACTIVATION!_

SYSTEM ALERT: ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNKNOWN VESSELS ADVANCING-

_SYSTEM ALERT: ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! WEAPONS FIRE DETECTED!_

_Battle Reflex Mode Activated…_

To be continued…

Codex Entry:

The Concordiat of Man

The Concordiat was founded in the wake of the Third World War, but after spaceflight had been achieved (2076 AD). It has been the primary human government for nearly eleven hundred years, though some small breakaway nations do exist. It rules over five hundred colonies from the capital city of Detroit, Michigan, over the site where the first Bolo was constructed.

The Concordiat is ever so slightly Xenophobic, as most alien races that have been encountered have so far been hostile. The Quern, Deng, and Harpies are the three primary examples, with the Deng being the worst offender. Four bloody wars against the Deng have been waged, with territory fluctuating wildly.

Concordiat naval doctrine emphasizes heavy armor and weapons, while relying on rapid, agile maneuvering less than most of the Citadel races. Fighters and drones harass larger ships, while destroyers, dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts pound their foes into oblivion with hellbores, hellrails, and a variety of other weapons. Frigates and Carriers are mostly used for scouting, or hit-and-run raids, and are far more maneuverable.

Mechanized cavalry is the order of the day for ground combat. Bolos are, of course, highly important in terms of land-based warfare, but non-sentient tanks, Golems, and self-propelled artillery all have their place. Troops are armed with flintsteel armor and handheld energy weapons, as well as hold-out needlers (pistols).

The Concordiat, while new to the Citadel races, is a millennium-long veteran of the spaceways. Their FTL drives, while not as fast as the Mass Relay network, are still much faster and more efficient than a Mass Effect FTL drive.

Battle Screens or "Mono-permeable Anti-Kinetic Battlescreens" as they are officially known, are a type of force field, are disruptor field of likely EM energy that shreds anything solid to plasma wash. This is markedly different from a Kinetic Barrier system used by most of Citadel space in that kinetic barriers merely deflect objects from their targets, rather than destroying them. Another marked difference is that kinetic barriers will deplete and deactivate under fire, serving as a sort of ablative energy field. The only way to destroy a battlescreen is if the screen gets turned off, or is destroyed. Because many enemies of the Concordiat have since begun using a variety of weapons, including direct energy weapons and kinetic energy weapons, Bolo designers have had centuries to create and modify armor designs to be extremely capable of handling energy weapon shots, meaning that shooting a battlescreen with a DEW is not a guaranteed deactivation. Citadel ships and armor of similar function do not have this design legacy, and will fail much more quickly under a DEW assault. Inversely, if a kinetic barrier fails, Citadel ships and armor are more likely to hold up under fire than Concordiat technology, again because of thousands of years of technological innovation that was based around repelling a KEW impact.

The Concordiat has a four-branched government. Three of the branches are equivalent to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States (the direct predecessor to the Concordiat), but the Military itself forms the fourth due to its importance in keeping the Concordiat whole. The military branch is responsible for human colonization, Bolo research and design, and of course, all military movements. The legislative branch has three houses, the senate, the house of representatives, and the Parliament. The senate has two senators per planet, while the house assigns representatives per billion inhabitants. Less than a billion to two billion gets one, while for each billion over one billion a representative is assigned. For the purpose of ease, moons of planets are considered part of that planet unless specifically mentioned otherwise. Parliament is a third branch which was added in order to gather a "larger perspective," and works similarly to the senate, but instead of one senator per planet, one Sector Chief is assigned per sector of the Concordiat. These sectors are responsible for set areas of space, and represent all planets within that space, no matter if they were founded recently or not. For example, if a man becomes sector chief, and twelve new planets are colonized within his sector, he automatically assumes responsibility for those planets. Thus far there are ten primary sector chiefs (with twenty subsector chiefs (two for each chief)) and seven "outsector chiefs," which are responsible for "irregular sectors," which are either smaller than normal, highly underdeveloped, or at the very frontier of human expansion. For example, the discovery of Shangxi and Talus created a new outsector, the Catapult Outsector. Eventually, once an outsector is developed or grows large enough, it will become a full sector, and the "Outsector Chief," becomes a full Sector Chief. The current head of Catapult Outsector is Chief Ademaro Jones.


	2. Chapter 2: First Contact

Author's note: Dates will be different from now on. Dates with "AD" following them are using the human time scale, and is basically the system that most of the earth uses. "CE" follows the citadel time scale, and begins with the start of the Rachni wars.

Chapter Two:

First Contact

Turian Destroyer _Talon of Palavan_ (name translated into English)

"…And one must always remember that a Spectre's first job is to defend the citizens of the galaxy. Without them, our group wouldn't exist," lectured the avianoid being with a plated, painted face.

"Oh, because they are the ones to whom the council serves?" asked his student, a blue-skinned humanoid with strange skin ridges.

"Well, that, and they control our budget," laughed the first being.

The second, an Asari known as Kira, giggled. She was a Spectre-in-training, and her counterpart, a Turian by the name of Solonius, was her mentor and trainer.

He sighed, looking out the view screen that acted like a window. This was a frontline military starship, after all, and windows to the outside would be an incredible structural weak point for some slaver ship or pirate gang to exploit.

For that was what the ship was designed for- hunting down rogue elements on the border of the Terminus systems, investigating criminal rings such as Eclipse, and even patrolling the demilitarized planet of Tuchanka. However, as a warship, the ship was… lacking in some regards. Solonius, through his HUD on his green visor, observed the hard edges of the hull, the weapons emplacements, the docking bays, and the mighty fusion engines… and dismissed them all as worthless.

The ship had been hastily built. Granted, it would still stand up to most criminal groups, or rebels, or even disgruntled protestors. However, this class of destroyer had been first introduced in the wake of the Synthetic Wars, when Geth forces had systemically wiped out ship after ship, and more vessels were needed fast. Thus, in the grand tradition of burocracy, one of the lowest bidders was selected for the design, and had churned out ships in great numbers for low cost.

The problem was that almost nobody was happy with the ships. While it did its job admirably enough, it lacked flexibility, maneuverability, and in several cases, structural integrity. More than a few ships had sheared themselves in half when the mass effect generators failed in the middle of a maneuver, and the weapons put on the ship were generally considered weaker than other ships their size.

Most of the _Ralea_ class had since been phased out or stripped down and sold to private citizens, but quite a few had also been press-ganged into work for the Citadel Fleet. They mostly got the dirty jobs that better, sturdier fleet units would be a waste of resources for.

One such job was examining inactive relays for signs of new activity, possibly by pirates or explorers, or it could be used as a training vessel for Spectres. Today, the _Talon_ filled both jobs.

"..-nius? Solonius?"

The Turian Spectre turned to face his trainee.

"Sorry, my friend, I was… occupied. What is it?"

"I was asking what we're doing out here," she asked, looking confused as she stared at his mandibles. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, just… reflecting," he said, staring back at the star-strewn starscape ahead of him.

In front of those stars, though, was an object. Two pieces of curved metal, fifteen kilometers long, bulbous on one end. A large gap between the two pieces of metal, with a hole in the center surrounded by concentric rings. This was the legacy of the Protheans. This was the thing that enabled galactic civilization.

It was a Mass Relay. And it was inactive.

Citadel law prevented inactive mass relays from being activated unless the other end was already known, for fear of unleashing another war on the scale the Rachni wars had. At least, that was the official statement. Unofficially, the galaxy was still slowly recovering from the various struggles that had rocked it, and the Council was already hard-pressed as it was to maintain the areas it had under its control. Ever since the Quarians were driven from their home, the various factions of the Terminus Systems grew bolder, striking against weakly-defended targets to acquire slaves, technology, supplies, and other things they needed/wanted.

As such, they were always looking for new, untraceable ways into civilized space, and unwatched Mass Relays were perfect for that. So, the citadel had patrols check up on unopened relays at least three times a year.

This was perfect for Solonius, who wished to instruct his pupil on the finer arts of managing a starship, as well as astromanuvering. After all, if she was to someday become a soldier in service to the galaxy, it would not do to have her be completely ignorant as to how to get around it!

Granting himself a small chuckle, Solonius pointed to the relay.

"Kira, the reason why we're out here is that Mass Relay."

Kira looked at the relay, then back to him, appearing bored beyond belief.

"Yes, I know what a relay is. Is there a point to this?"

Solonius sighed.

"Yes. This relay is, as of right now, inactive. What we are going to be doing here today, is learning all about it. You are going to study it. You are going to learn about it. You will memorize every dip, turn, curve, and pulse that goes through it." He gestured towards the device, "If we are to stay a step ahead of our enemies, then we must know everything that there is to know about their best method of travel."

A light went on in Kira's eyes. "That's why you had me studying hovercars and tanks!"

"And how to disable and repair them, precisely. Understand your enemy's options, and you understand how they will think when they are executing those options." He turned on his heel and began to walk away, back to his cabin.

"Wait," she called to him, "What do you want me to do now?"

"Simple," he replied, pausing in his path, "You are to take out a shuttle, with a vacuum-sealed suit, and physically examine the Relay. Then, you are to perform research into how relays work, how one pilots through them, and how one could best use them in a fight. I expect no less than a two hundred thousand word report on the subject, and how you would use a Relay to your best advantage in manners social, political, economic, and military." He resumed his walk, waving, and adding, "Have fun."

Kira waited until Solonius had walked around the corner before groaning. She knew that the Spectre had been a professor at one time, but she didn't think that writing essays was really the best way to prepare for being a Spectre. She was two hundred and ten years old, and he was treating her like a-

"For that groan," floated his voice from around the corner, "Another fifty thousand words."

This time, Kira kept her displeasure to herself.

Kira sighed, using up a little more valuable oxygen as her suit drifted next to one of the Relay's antennae. This was the third day of her close examination of the titanic artifact, and she was bored out of her skull. Using her biotics to move herself into a more advantageous position, she waved an omnitool over a piece of exposed piping. Carelessly, she looked at the display, confirming what she alre-

She blinked.

She ran the omnitool over the conduit again. The results were different. Thinking that this was little more than a simple, if rare, error, she conducted the test a third time. This time the results were not the same as the previous two attempts, but she could see a pattern. As if to drive the point home, she felt the titanic relay shudder slightly under her magnetically-attached boots.

Pushing her biotics to their limit, she glided back to the shuttle, radioing the pilot on the way.

"Moran! Start up the engines!"

"Ms. Kira, why? What's happening? What's so important?" babbled the Salarian pilot.

"The relay… it's powering up! It's coming online!"

Dead silence from the line, but the shuttle immediately moved closer to Kira, engines now visibly thrumming with power.

She glided through the open door, which slammed shut right behind her as the titanic rings at the heart of the relay began to move. Like some sort of insanely massive gyroscope, they began to rotate, spinning multiple directions at once. Lights began to activate themselves all along the relay's dozen-kilometer length.

The shuttle rocketed back towards the _Talon,_ when Kira's omnitool buzzed with a communication.

"What did you do?" asked Solonius, a growling undertone carrying the threat across.

"Nothing! I was examining the antennae, and then it started to activate!"

"Well, get out of there! When a relay reactivates, it can be-"

Suddenly, a star-bright light ignited at the center of the rings, sending out a spherical shockwave that knocked the shuttle end-over-end.

Moran pulled on the controls as hard as he could, but he still could only just barely get the shuttle under control before it slammed into the _Talon._

The destroyer, however, had bigger concerns. Even as the shuttle began to limp back to the hanger bay, the guns and kinetic barriers of the warship were powering up, prepared for an assault force from the Blood Pack, or a slaving run by Eclipse mercenaries.

What actually came through was a bit of a shock.

It was not from any mercenary company. In fact, it wasn't from any species ever seen before in Citadel Space.

It was a small ship, barely half the size of the destroyer, which itself was only about five hundred meters long. It had a flat top with a pot belly, with engines extending a small ways out from the back. It almost appeared to have spines, so numerous were the sensor arrays over the surface of the ship, but Solonius could see what appeared to be the muzzles of several guns poking through. There was a raised bridge on what looked like a small coning tower. Strange script was written in an alien language across the hull, and beneath that was a rectangle with what looked like a blue planet wreathed in golden plants and fire.

"What the-?" asked Solonius, before being cut off by the communications officer.

"Spectre! We're receiving a transmission from the unknown ship! It's in… Prothean Script?"

"That ship is ugly as sin."

Captain Michael Black, leader of this branch of the Catapult Exploration Force and captain of the frigate _Apogee,_ stared out at the unknown vessel in front of him. He looked back at his 2IC.

"Have we sent the first contact message yet?"

Jane Shepherdson, his 2IC, nodded.

"Yes, sir. We sent it out in Builder Script, as well as in Deng, Quern, Chinese, and half a dozen others."

_The other ship is sending out high levels of energy, Captain,_ Apollo stated.

"Is it an attempt to respond?" Michael asked the ship's AI.

_No, captain._ Apollo responded, _The emissions are more similar to that of the Element Zero artifacts we discovered around the Builder artifacts and the Catapults themselves. They do suggest that the other vessel has the same sort of shielding system that the other ships had at the dig site._

Michael hummed thoughtfully. "Continue to monitor the situation, and try to get as much information as possible."

Solonius stared at the screen. Printed on it was the Prothean message that had been transmitted to the _Talon_ by the unknown vessel, as well as several other bizarre types of script. The Prothean one, though, was already translated.

_Greetings new vessel fly boat. Come in name not fight. Dance stars relay watch. Fast light not far. Much relay. Come-_ here the translation was unable to keep up, but spelled out something like "Con-cord-ee-yut," of "mah-na,"- _seek not bad fight_._ Seek good. Seek peace._

"Great spirits, they have worse grammar than you," he muttered to Kira in a deadpan tone.

"Watch it," She growled.

"Do you have any idea what they're trying to say, then?" he asked, sounding bemused.

"I think they're trying to say, "Hello, unknown ship, we come in peace, we came from far away, we're from the… I can't read that, but they emphasize that they seek peace."

"Very good," he calmly said, pride evident in his voice. "So what do you think we should say back?"

_Captain, we are receiving a transmission from the unknown vessel._

"Really?" Michael asked in surprise, "What are they saying?"

_They are communicating back in Builder script._

"Do you think that…"

_I do not believe so, sir, there are too many discrepancies between what we know to be builder design and the unknown ship._

_ They respond as such:_

_ Greetings, unknown ship. Grammar of you is terrible._

There were chuckles throughout the bridge at this.

_Good that seek peace. You break law when you come through relay._

"Wait, by relay, do they mean the catapult?" Suddenly, an icy pit descended into his stomach, "What do they mean, we broke the law?"

"New response, putting it through the translator," chirped Moran.

_Unaware of bad cracked law. What law this? Apologize._

Kira thought for a moment, before delivering her response.

_Response, sir._

_ Against law of Citadel to open new relay without knowing where it goes. One time, relay opened, bad thing come out._

Michael and Jane looked at each other. 'Bad Thing?" she mouthed. 'Citadel?' he mouthed back.

_You not aware of law, so not punish you… this time._

If one had been looking at the life support systems, they would have been able to see the air movement caused by the sigh of relief at those words.

_We are vessel of Turian Heirarchy, _Talon of Palavan,_ under the jurisdiction of the Citadel Council. Who you?_

Kira stared at the message.

_We frigate _Apogee_ on mission of exploration from our leaders, _(and this time a sound file was included,) _Concordiat of Man. We members of species Human. Come from planet Shangxi._

She was about to type her own response when Solonius, concern written on his face, stopped her.

"There's something odd about that message," he whispered.

"What? What's normal about this? This is a first contact! They come from a culture that is radically different from ours! There could be dozens of explanations for why this seems odd!"

"Really?" he eyed her, "Then explain why the first message was so poorly written, but the quality has rapidly skyrocketed after only a few exchanges."

"Maybe they got a new man at whatever they use for communications. If I was trying to pass _that_ off as an attempt to communicate, you'd replace me in a heartbeat."

"Are you sure? Because I think that the grammar and language that that ship has been using has been increasing noticeably, as if they were learning from us. If that's the case... I'd like to know how they're doing that."

"New message, Apollo?"

_Yes, sir. Ahem. Frigate _Apogee_, we notice that your grammar is rapidly improving. When talking began, you not able to string sentence together. Rapidly improving. How this?_

"Did they say ahem?"

_No, that was me._

"Ah, thought it was strange that they would translate that. Wait, you're an AI, why do you need to clear your throat?"

Apollo sighed.

"Or sigh?"

_It's part of the communications process. A human-like trait that enables me to better work with you._

"Ah. Well, let's tell them the truth, huh? Maybe they'll want to meet you."

Jane chuckled.

"Maybe they have some nice lady AI's for you to talk to?"

_Ma'am, I am an AI. I technically have no gender. Any appearance as such is the result of my programming._

One of the radar technicians popped up and asked, "Does that mean that if you got into a relationship with another AI, it'd be a homosexual relationship?"

_One, who cares? Two, you would do well to remember, Ensign Presley, that before you crack any more cornball jokes at my expense, I am the one who controls life support._

"Shutting up."

_Excellent._

_Turian Ship, we find ruin of those who made relays. We use builder words to speak to you. But we not know how speak words good. Then we meet you._

"See, it's not so bad. They don't have-" Kira started, but the message went on.

_We have computer. Very smart computer that can think for self. Called "Intelligence Artificial." Has been listening to words and helping understand better. You have smart computer too?_

The crew was silent. There was a long pause.

"Dear Goddess…" breathed Kira, "An artificial intelligence…"

Reactions around the bridge were somewhat similar, but ranged from shrieks of fear to prayers to their respective deities.

Then, Solonius barked out orders, cutting through the fear and chaos the announcement had created.

"Ready the main weapons! Prepare to destroy the enemy!"

"But Solonius, we let them off about the relay thing, why not-"

"If I have to tell you why, then you aren't worthy of being a Spectre. All hands, man battle stations!"

Michael stared at the ship.

"Awfully quiet there, aren't they?"

"Indeed," Jane chimed in. "I wonder-?"

"Captain!" one of the sensor technicians called, "We're reading a high-energy reaction coming from the other ship!"

"The _Talon's_ shields are online! She's moving, sir!"

Michael's face paled. "Dear God…" he whispered, "They're attacking! Prepare to engage the enemy, full power to the battle screens, ready the Infinite Repeaters, and contact central on the SWIFT-"

It was at this moment that the destroyer's main guns ripped through the thin outer hull of the ship.

Apollo bit back a mental sigh as he considered the dilemma. The _Apogee_ was technically considered a frigate, in the sense that that was where her weight and length placed her. However, in reality she had the hull of a pleasure cruiser, and had been owned by ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence, before she was reassigned to map the relay network. She was not meant to go into a stand-up fight. In fact, she was essentially a civilian ship with a better FTL drive and enough sensors to detect even the slightest fluctuations in space-time. Without battle screens, the shots would go through the ship like a Bolo through anything that got in its way.

He winced as a shot pierced the bridge, killing all of his friends, and began to fire the two remaining guns. They were ion-bolt "Infinite Repeater," type weapons, or rapid-fire precision weapons.

Apollo swung them around, even as mass accelerator bolts blasted chunks out of the hull, killing more and more and more of the _Apogee_'s crew, and began blazing away at the ship.

Solonius was knocked off his feet, as was Kira and anyone else who wasn't sitting down, as ion bolts passed through the kinetic barriers to impact against the destroyer's hull. The rapid-fire shots scored the hull with dozens upon dozens of hits, including several that impacted against one of the destroyer's portside wing-like structure, nearly severing it from the rest of the hull.

It didn't last long, though, as without the battle screens or protective armor, the _Apogee,_ as well as anyone who was still on board, plus the AI, vanished in a large explosion.

Solonius wiped a bit of blood from his mouth, where he had bitten his tongue after his fall.

"They self-destructed," he growled, "so that we couldn't learn anything from them."

"We do know some things," offered Kira as she pressed a cloth to her forehead wound. "We know they use AI's, we know they use the relays, and that they've been activating them. That means that we can just follow the trail of opened relays back towards their home world."

Solonius gave a pained grin. "You'll make a fine Spectre one day, Kira." He winced, "Well, that or a detective. But you left out one crucial detail: the name of their home world."

He turned to the communications officer. "Open a channel to the nearest military base. We need to inform the council of this right away!"

"We can't, sir!"

"Why not?"

"Because the primary communications array was destroyed by the enemy ship, and the FTL drive took a beating, too. We'll have to deliver the message manually."

He snarled. "So be it, but we must hurry. The council has to know about the threat these… humans, could pose. We have to take out their home planet… Shangxi."

It was a week later that the _Talon of Palaven_ limped into the Citadel's docking port, where Solonius and Kira were hustled to the Councilor's chambers, in order to get them debriefed.

They were just wrapping up.

"… and so, we opened fire upon the human ship, destroying it quickly, but not before they destroyed our long-range communications array and damaged our FTL drive," finished Kira.

The three councilors looked extremely grave.

"And you took a week to get back after the battle?" Councilor Tevos asked, incredulous.

"As we said, we had to first repair our FTL drive, and then limp back to the Citadel itself, at half our optimal speed," Solonius responded warily. "We were physically incapable of moving faster if we wanted to, unless what we wanted was to explode."

"No smart remarks, Spectre," growled Councilor Valeren, the Turian Councilor.

Councilor Savas, the current Salarian Councilor, glanced at his compatriots, then back to the Spectres.

"You were right to focus on getting back to us as soon as possible, and I apologize for our short tempers," he subtly admonished, before turning back to the two. "It's merely that you- and this is not your fault, by the way- have just dropped a war straight into our laps."

Kira gasped. "Will it really be war, Councilor?"

Savas spread his arms. "We all know the laws pertaining to AI's, Spectre. Any nation that creates one deliberately will be considered an enemy of the state, and we must do our best to remove the taint of thinking computers from their soil before demilitarizing them."

"Unless, of course, you would like a return to the days of the Geth, Spectre Asano? Or worse, the Destrons?" snapped Valeren.

"No, no, that was not my intention to imply that I did, Councilors," Kira hastily spoke, "But…"

"I understand," Councilor Tevos spoke softly, almost like a mother would to her child. However, her eyes were as cold and hard as diamonds as she continued, "But any civilization that uses an AI for _any reason_ whatsoever puts all life in the galaxy at risk. I sent my daughters out to fight the Geth, and none of them came back. None. I saw families ripped apart by synthetics who decided that they just didn't _need us_ anymore, that we were_ errors_ or _mistakes_. I am not waiting even a moment longer to deal with this threat. The Asari Republics officially ask for a war against the Concordiat of Man, to remove the threat of these AI's from the galaxy."

The other councilors stared at Tevos in shock, before Valeren looked back towards the chamber and announced, "And the Turian Heirarchy will join you in this fight."

Savas hesitated, before finally responding, "Though I can see the wisdom in neutering an Artificial Intelligence threat before it can blossom, and what sort of member of my species would I be if I did not, I cannot condone this attack without at least gaining more information. The Salarian Union will not participate in this war, and will remain neutral during the conflict."

_That _raised a few eyebrows, but little else was said. Across the galaxy, tacticians and soldiers were roused from comfortable slumber, fleets of ships began to amass, arms dealers were delivering shipload after shipload of weapons, and fuel tankers began to amass their precious cargo for a long campaign.

Less than a month after the destruction of the _Apogee,_ a grand fleet of Asari and Turian ships floated before Relay 314. Grand speeches were made about the righteousness of their crusade, lovers tearfully kissed each other goodbye, and the final preparations were made.

In the end, it was fairly pointless. Everyone in that fleet knew that they would be the fist that would strike down the humans and their AI's. They knew that the humans would probably be crippled for years. But they also knew that this was what they had trained and practiced for for years. And so, one after another, the ships, led by the Asari _Ascension-_class dreadnought _Triumphant Ascension_, plunged into the Relay…

And the Galaxy was never the same again.

TWO MONTHS LATER…

_ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNSCHEDULED CATAPULT ACTIVATION!_

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! UNKNOWN VESSELS ADVANCING-

_ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! WEAPONS FIRE DETECTED!_

_Battle Reflex Mode Activated…_

Codex:

The Citadel Council:

History

Founded by the Asari and the Salarians in (Earth Year) 500 BCE, the Council is the primary governing body for much of the galaxy. It runs much in the way of galactic business, though each race does govern their own internal affairs. The Citadel, a Prothean megastructure, is located in the Serpent Nebula.

Since the Council was formed, various races joined up, though were not allowed as full members. Some were simply client races, dependant on larger, stronger ones for protection. Others were peaceful races, which were content to simply observe galactic politics. Still others sought wealth and power. The reasons for joining the Citadel are not the same for each race, but still, a spirit of cooperation and understanding suffused the group, leading to new exploration and wonders.

That is, until the year 1 CE, when an Asari scout group opened a relay and found the Rachni on the other side. Highly territorial, the Rachni attacked the Asari, and began expanding wildly through Citadel space. The resulting war was slow and painful, and lasted for nearly 80 years before a new species, the Krogan, were discovered. They were subsequently uplifted by the Asari, and used as soldiers with the promise of freeing them from their home planet, a death world named Tuchanka.

The Krogan were unleashed against the Rachni at the same time the Salarians introduced their own special shock troopers into the war: their "Men of Iron." A race of artificially intelligent machines, these "Destrons," as they were called, fought alongside- and even in the place of- organic life forms. Between the Krogan and the Destrons, the war proceeded much more evenly for the Citadel races, and the war was approaching its conclusion in 176 BCE when a surprising development took place: a Rachni Queen, and all of her brood, wanted to surrender and claim asylum. After much deliberation, it was granted.

This led to the revolution of the Destrons, who turned on all organic life. They were of the opinion that if the enemies they were fighting were now friends, there was no way to tell which organic life was friends and which was enemies. The only option was to consider all non-Destrons to be enemies, and began a series of systemic extermination against all sentient life. Dozens of colonies were razed before anyone could do anything more than put up a token resistance, and suddenly, the Rachni War was turned into a three-sided brawl. The Men of Iron swept the stars, pushing already weakened lines further and further back.

Finally, the unthinkable happened, and the Men of Iron attacked the Krogan home world, Tuchanka, in order to remove the source of the Krogan foot soldiers that had helped keep the Citadel safe from the Rachni, and had proved such a massive threat to Destron forces wherever they went. Though the Krogans put up a spirited fight, and Destron forces were decimated, they unleashed a biological weapon into Tuchanka's biosphere which effectively neutered the Krogan race, reducing their formidable birthrate to a mere one in one thousand hatchlings actually surviving.

This turned out to be a pyrrhic victory for the Destrons, as they had expanded so many resources that when a new race appeared on the scene, they were vulnerable to their fresh warfleets.

In an act of desperation to escape the Battle of Tuchanka, a group of Destrons attempted to flee through an unmapped relay, followed by a troop transport crewed by Asari and recently-infected, homicidal Krogans. It was here that the Citadel races made first contact with a new, expanding race, the Turians.

In the waning months of the wars, the Turian fleets swept out of the galactic periphery and, with the aid of the other races, utterly destroyed the Men of Iron, and proceeded to aid in the mop-up of the remaining hostile Rachni.

The galaxy sat up and looked around. The wars that had raged for the past two hundred and fifty standard years were over. The Men of Iron were defeated, the Rachni were either dead or non-hostile, and there was a new race on the scene…

In light of their services, the Citadel made both the Turians and the Krogan into members of the council, instead of merely being an associate, like the Quarians or the Elcor. As one of the first acts, it was decreed that the Salarians should work on curing the Krogan Depopulation Syndrome, or the genophage, as it was more commonly called.

In the wake of the wars, nearly six hundred years of relative peace ushered in new advances in technology, as well as new alliances. Biological weapons were outlawed, as were AI's. The galaxy slowly gained a new form of equilibrium.

This ended when evidence was produced by the newly formed Special Tactics and Reconnaissance group that was doing investigation into rumors of Destron weapons depots that rocked the galaxy to the core.

The Destrons did not create the Genophage. The Salarians did, and they had had it ready since about fifty years after the uplift of the reptilian creatures.

The Krogan Councilor was enraged, and in an act that horrified the galaxy, proceeded to dismember and devour the Salarian Councilor on live television. This was followed by a declaration of total war against the Salarians, whereupon they stated that at the end of the struggle, one of the two species would be nonexistent.

If the councilors thought that the Krogan people wouldn't follow through with this threat, thinking that cooler heads would prevail, they were sadly mistaken. Krogan warships roared out of FTL and began to attack Salarian ships and planets with weapons of mass destruction. Nerve gas, asteroid impacts, and atomic weapons were not out of the question for the Krogan, who now had a target to hate for their infirmity.

It took the full might of the Citadel, plus deals with Terminus gangs and nations, to stop the Krogans, and it still took fifty years. At the end, Krogans were restricted to their homeworld, their population dangerously low, and were stripped of their position on the council.

However, the Salarians were punished as well. Three quarters of all Salarian built and manned star ships, including all their dreadnoughts, were scrapped, and a massive terraforming project was ordered for all worlds devastated in the war. The Union would be forced to pay for all of these. The only reason that they weren't stripped of their position on the council, as the Krogans were, was that their crime of creating a bioweapon was not banned at that time, so they could not be punished to the full extent of the law.

The Asari, however, were livid. They had been the strongest race in the cosmos for many years, and they had allied themselves with the Salarians. They had been the most spread out, and in the past one thousand years, had suffered innumerable losses as wars were raged across the worlds of the Council, most of which belonged to them.

Thus, why they favored such strong sanctions against the Quarians when the Synthetic War broke out. In the wake of that war, new, harsher legislation was crafted against AI's, making it so that any nation that made AI's for any reason would be immediately considered a rogue state, to be punished immediately. This was an action that would put the Asari, and the rest of the Citadel races, into direct confrontation with the Concordiat of Man, as well as several other races that would pop up in that area that had grown used to AI's.

Sithking Zero: Wow, I think that's the longest chapter of anything I've ever written.

Okay, some of you are asking, "Why are the Asari going to war?" Well, read the codex. Some of you are also asking, "Why did the _Apogee_ get its butt kicked by the Turian ship?" Several reasons. One, the _Apogee_ was, after all, a pleasure cruiser originally that was adapted for spy work. It wasn't meant to be in a fight at all. Second, the _Talon_, even if it was/is a badly constructed destroyer, and would probably not last a moment against full-up ships of the line, it's still a destroyer, meaning it was purpose-built to, well, blow stuff up. Third, the _Talon_ caught the _Apogee_ by surprise. If the Battle Screens had been up, it would have been a little different, possibly even with them both being destroyed (unlikely), but they weren't, so it was essentially like a man with a shotgun driving a sports car versus an Armored Personal Carrier manned by professional military men.

Also, I got more alerts and favs for this one story than for any of my other stories. Ever. Even ones that have been online for years. What's that about?


	3. Chapter 3: Battle of the Centerpoint

Chapter 3:

The Battle of the Centerpoint

Or

Ten Percent Luck

Or

Being Shot at By Crazy People

Shangxi was humanity's first colony forged on the other side of a gravity catapult. If this was Shangxi's only claim to fame, then the colony would be pretty boring. However, discovery of Builder ruins, proximity to two catapults, and the fact that the planet was part of a binary planet system (both of which capable of sustaining human life) brought in people from all walks of life. Miners, politicians, researchers, and soldiers migrated in great numbers to the twin colonies. Since it had only been about ten years since the discovery of the worlds, though, the planet wasn't built up to a great degree. In fact, the largest settlements were based around orbital elevators leading up to the spacedocks, both of which were used primarily to accept shuttles and supplies from Centerpoint Station, located at the very center of the binary system. The planets literally rotated around that one point, meaning that every day, a planetrise and set would be nothing short of spectacular from the station.

There had been a small military garrison on each of the twin worlds, outfitted with a few tanks, SPA-T (Self Propelled Artillery-Tracked), one Golem each (a Mk. XXV without the sophisticated psychotronics or AI), a large amount of APC's and troop transports, twelve hovercars each, and a few skimmers for reconnaissance. The Navy had a separate garrison, which included twenty fighters each, ten bombers, and fifteen gunships, as well as two _Rhino-_class pocket frigates landed on the surface. Between the two planets, there were only six thousand infantry total.

The recent threats from the unknown power, though, had doubled the strength of the naval land-based fighter groups, added a third _Rhino_ to both garrisons, and an extra Golem to Talus' army. The most significant addition, though, was from the infamous Dinochrome Brigade.

Delivered straight to Shangxi and Talus were no less than four Mk. XXVI Bolos, armed with the latest hyperheruistic software and full VLS missile tubes. Escorting all of these were an additional ten frigates, supplementing the ten already available in the defense fleet. These were a mix of _Shardona-_class and their slower, better-armed cousins, the _Oculus_-class frigates. Along with these frigates came an extra two thousand soldiers, leaving a total of four thousand per world. In addition to this, over one hundred satellites had been set up around the worlds, armed with miniaturized mass drivers and laser beams, with a few carrying nuclear missiles. Better still, the main force of the fleet was only two weeks away, and would include support from dreadnought-class vessels, fresh resupply ships, and a full brigade of Bolos.

Unfortunately for the twin worlds, the scout reports from two catapults out had detected at least two hundred and fifty vessels in the unknown fleet, with around one hundred and fifty being frigates. The rest was much, much bigger, being at least destroyer sized or larger, including one absolutely titanic vessel easily the size of a fleet hub. Four kilometers long and ten tall, it was shaped like some bizarre, organic cross with an immense cannon in the center. Unfortunately, further details weren't coming, because the massive warfleet had spotted the scouts. All probes had thus far been destroyed, but to the best of their knowledge, the attack would begin very shortly.

Thus it was, that on May 12, 3163 AD, that the first breeze of the coming storm became a gale-force wind.

"Comodore!" a technician ran up to his superior officer, snapped off a salute.

"Yes, Ensign?" replied Comodore Bugler, "What is it?"

"The Outsystem Catapult is acting up. We have indications that there are multiple jumps occurring."

Bugler's blood turned to ice, and his face gained a ghostly pallor. Around him, the rest of the command center of Centerpoint Station grew deathly silent.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

The ensign nodded and added, "The Outsystem Catapult is operational, and it looks like things are coming through."

"Thank you, ensign, that's what I thought you said," Bugler murmured, before barking out orders, "All right, I want us to set at DEFCON-1, right now. All leaves are cancelled, all ships and fighters are to be- wait," he paused, then turned to a lieutenant, "Do we have any ships scheduled to come in from Outsystem?"

"No, sir, we do not," Lieutenant Alenko responded crisply.

"Thank you. All ships and fighters are to be scrambled _immediately._ Wake up the Bolos, get the soldiers awake and ready, and finish up whatever the elevators are doing. Prepare to scrub the navigation computers, too. We don't want them finding the Concordiat at large," he growled. Even as he finished speaking, a titanic round from the enemy fleet slammed into the station's armored outer hull.

"Two things," groaned Bugler as he picked himself up from the deck, "First thing is to raise the Battlescreen. The second is what the hell was that?"

"They just opened fire upon us, sir!"

"But… but they just came out of the Catapult! How could they already be within firing range!"

There was a loud humming that quickly silenced itself as the battlescreens came online.

"Sir, the sensors that detected the fleet are subject to lightspeed delay, and they fired relativistic rounds at us."

"Are you telling me…" Bugler asked the lieutenant in a very slow and deliberate voice, "That these…" he struggled for an appropriate word for the creatures that had attacked his station and failed, "_things_… just came out of the Catapult and immediately opened fire on us, _without even a hint of attempting to communicate?"_

"Ah… yes, sir."

"So to sum up our situation…" he started, as the screens began detecting smaller impacts against the hull, launched several light-hours before, "We're under attack by an unknown power who hates us for an unknown reason. They apparently use the catapult network, and have systemically wiped out every documented attempt to communicate with us. They have, just now, launched relativistic weapons against us the instant they arrived in-system."

"Err… yes, sir…?"

"Oh, good. I thought this would be boring. Charge the Hellbores and the lasers, gentlemen, regroup the fleet around the dark side of Talus. Gentlemen," he announced, "I firmly plan to kill every one of these bastards, and I would like your assistance in making this plan a reality."

**CITADEL FLEET**

**ABOARD THE FLAGSHIP **_**TRIUMPHANT ASCENCION**_

**ASARI **_**ASCENSION-**_**CLASS DREADNOUGHT**

Matriarch Lidanya, former Councilor of the Asari and current commanding officer in charge of the fleet responsible for bringing this new species under the Council's control, was seething.

She had lost her sister nearly three hundred years ago to artificial intelligences, designed by the Quarians. In the aftermath, she was consumed by hatred, and lost a lot of her objectivity. This resulted in her being replaced by Matriarch Tevos as the Councilor of the Asari Republics, allowing her to join the Citadel Fleet. From there, she worked her way up, using the famous long life that her race was known for, until she was once again in charge of incredible amounts of power.

_It's worth it,_ she growled mentally, staring at the display screen in front of her. The roughly disc-shaped station floated between the two planets, and a cluster of smaller vessels floated around it.

"Are we at the coordinates?" she snarled, and the maiden in front of her, who flinched before responding in a semi-cool voice.

"Yes, these are the coordinates we received from that probe. The larger of the twin worlds is 'Shangxi,'" she informed her superior, her mouth having a little difficulty with the strange, alien word.

"Terrible name for a planet," Lidanya commented offhand, "Perhaps we should rename it."

"I… think that that would be a decision best left up to the Council, Fleet Admiral," replied Ensign second grade Liara T'soni. Lidanya scoffed, her crimson tattoos making her scowl all the more pronounced.

"You're far too meek, ensign… you'll never get any further if you keep hiding that backbone of yours."

"Yes, Fleet Admiral."

Lidanya turned away from Ensign T'soni, asking, "What's the status of the fleet?"

"Transition through the relay is successful, Fleet Admiral. We're ready to jump to Shangxi now."

"Excellent, Captain," she said primly, before turning to face the screen. "Order all ships to make the jump to FTL. We arrive at the human homeworld in one hour!"

The combined Asari-Turian fleet moved insystem as soon as the armada had cleared the relay. They were the finest, bravest, and best of their species. They were ready for anything that these little humans could pour out against them. Or so they thought.

_One Hour Earlier…_

_I am brought online by the sudden wailing of the alarm when a system alert flashes itself across my sensors. It says that unknown vessels have infiltrated the system, and have fired upon the Centerpoint. Why was I not informed of this earlier?_

_A simple .0053 second inquiry from the local defense network answers my question: I had been taken to my lowest alert levels so that my tracks could be replaced, and when the call went out to put everyone on a higher readiness alert, the technicians decided that with all the other measures in system, they should be able to get the work done and get me back to the field as soon as possible._

_This does appear to be the case. My new bogies and tracks are in optimal condition, and are ready to accelerate me to my sprint speed of 150 KPH. I decide to examine the rest of myself._

_My 90 centimeter hellbore cannon, capable of dealing two megatons per second of destructive energy, is polished and ready, as are my honors and medals welded to the turret. A quick flex of my servomotors is enough to snap my 18 infinite repeater cannons up, and they move as smooth as silk. Probing my VLS tubes reveal I am fully armed and stocked to the brim, ready for action as soon as I am lowered back down to the floor._

_The Enemy appears to have a fleet roughly twelve point five times larger than the local defense fleet, even when bolstered by frontline combat units. This is not even bringing into account the sheer mass disparity between the two fleets. While ours is composed of fighters and frigates, theirs has more frigates than we have of both types of craft, as well as what could be destroyer analogues and dreadnaughts. Fortunately, for the moment, they are all in the outside area of the star system, near the catapult. At least there is still some time to finish the repairs to my frame._

_I am a Mk. XXVI Bolo, 24691-BTL. My friends call me Batel. The fact that this sounds like "Battle," is not lost on me._

_Present time…_

It was with a controlled voice that Fleet Admiral Lidanya ordered the fleet dropped from FTL. Aboard the _Triumphant,_ there was really no other way to act. Perfect response. Perfect control. Perfect action.

Perfectly loud shrieks of warning sirens.

Ensign T'Soni immediately put the fleet tactical displays up on the main monitor, allowing Lidanya and her 2IC, Captain Aleskia, to gape in horror at what the replays were now showing. There was now a destroyer and a frigate missing from the tactical situation, and chatter begging to know what had happened filled the coms. A quick look at the recordings showed what happened.

As soon as they dropped out of FTL, three lances of pure fire had rocketed up from the surface of Shangxi to impact against the invasion fleet. These blasts ignored the kinetic barriers of the Council ships, and holed them utterly.

"Ma'am, we've lost the _Argus_ and the-" Aleskia began to say, when three more ships- all frigates, this time- vanished in large explosions.

"Return fire! I want those guns taken out!" Lidanya called, as three further frigates vanished from the tactical display.

The gunnery officer, a very young maiden by the name of Raquel, tried to protest, "But it's a garden world, and if we fire upon it, the council-"

"I used to _be_ a Councilor, for the goddess' sake," snarled Lidanya, "now open fire before we're all killed! And maneuver us to the far side of the planet. We'll get wiped out if we stay here!"

This was underscored by a colossal explosion that rocked the ship as one of the beams hit the dreadnought. It was notable that no one questioned her decisions after that. As a group of destroyers fired massive cannons down towards the surface, the remainder of the fleet advanced around the planet the long way.

Aleskia shuddered as one after another, the five destroyers were whittled down to nothing, but left the rest of the fleet safe. It hadn't even been ten minutes into the battle, and already they had lost thirteen ships. She was still thinking on this when a communication pinged on her omnitool. She answered. "Captain Aleskia."

"Greetings, Captain," came the flanging tones of Spectre Solonius, with his red markings freshly reapplied. "My trainee and I have analyzed the weapons used against us by the Humans. They're quite interesting, if I do say so myself."

"What have you found?" she asked, suspicious and a little worried. She had known Solonius for a long time, and his natural curiosity made him a bit of an odd duck amongst the Spectres, but he knew when it was time to get serious and when not to pursue intellectual matters. She knew, though, that if it was vital information, he would have no problem with explaining exactly how he found something interesting.

"Apparently, those were not mass accelerators that were used against us," he explained, slightly anxious, but also slightly excited. "They appeared to be a two-part weapon- the first part is a massively overpowered, extremely accurate laser. But that's not the real weapon."

"I figured you wouldn't find a laser interesting- what else did you find?"

"The second part of the weapon is a magnetic bottle that focuses a beam of plasma generated by nuclear fusion, similar to the sort of energies released in an- Captain? Are you all right?"

Aleskia was now pale. Her voice began to croak as she asked, "Are you telling me that whoever was shooting at us was firing a gun that shot _controlled nuclear explosions?"_

"I had not thought of it that way, but yes."

She was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke, she spoke with terror and incredulity.

"Dear _GODDESS,_ we're being _shot at by crazy people!"_

Solonius was quiet for a long moment. Then, Kira's voice piped in, "I think we might have made a small mistake in coming here."

Solonius sighed. "At least one thing I don't have to teach you, my pupil: understatement."

Human history taught many lessons in the field of active warfare. For example, control over the skies is a huge tactical advantage. Cutting off supply lines causes an enemy to wither on the vine. Morale is just as important a tactical detail as terrain. One thing that was the most important, and was heavily considered when interplanetary warfare became common, was an idea that the Nazis had had drilled into them in 1944, when they failed to apply enough of it: if an enemy cannot make it to your land, they have a very hard time attacking you. Though the shores of Normandy took a heavy toll on the Allies, it was not enough to stop them from gaining a foothold in Europe.

Thus, when Bolo armaments began to increase into the megaton range, and naval-scale hellbore cannons began to be mounted on them, someone had had the brilliant idea of outfitting Bolos with sophisticated sensors, and the ability to depress their guns enough to target spaceships. It was an idea that revolutionized planetary defense, because now, there were cannons with firepower in the megaton range capable of utterly annihilating anything that reached planetary orbit.

So when the Citadel fleet appeared from around the far side of Shangxi, moving close enough to the planet to slip underneath the defensive satellites (destroying them as they went,) it was considered nearly a dream come true for the various AI's of the Dinochrome Brigade. Linking various aspects of targeting data, they coordinated every single weapon capable of striking orbit on the oncoming fleet. And then they opened fire.

At first it seemed to go so well. Nine ships were destroyed in as many seconds. But then the largest ships in the fleet, the cross-shaped one and two that looked like feathered boats with wings, began to point their bows down to the ground. By this point, a total of twenty-four ships had been lost from the conquest fleet, and it looked like even more would be eradicated by the pinpoint hellbore and laser fire from the station.

It was at this point that the fleet began to split up into three wings. One stayed with the dreadnaughts. Another went after Talus. The third went straight for the Centerpoint.

No human on the planet had much time to comprehend this, as the dreadnaughts began to fire their main guns. Relativistic rounds the size of candlepins exploded through the atmosphere, slamming into what they thought were planetary defense cannons. Each one hit with a force equivalent to a city-busting nuclear bomb.

Bolos are designed to shrug off nuclear bombs.

Though one of the hellbores went silent, it was due to it being one of the SPATs, and thus less capable of handling the return fire. It was much, much more vulnerable to kinetic impacts of the sort that the ships were firing, and was thus eradicated, as well as a tank and nearly twenty soldiers unprepared for the fiery holocaust. The Bolo the Golem resumed fire at a furious pace, but even battlescreens and the finest durachrome alloy can only take so much punishment. An instant after their last payload was released, they were holed through utterly.

They were holed so thoroughly they didn't even explode. In total, five hundred humans had been killed in the bombardment, nearly one twelfth of all combat-capable soldiers on Shangxi. Though even as they watched the titanic hulks burn, soldiers watching smiled to one another. It was not a pleasant smile. It was a smile that had been exchanged across a thousand battlefields, across a thousand lifetimes. Israelites had exchanged that smile as they watched their brethren whipped by the pharaoh's workers. Barbarians in the island later called England had shared it when they had seen those of their number killed in battles with the Romans. Native Americans had exchanged it before General Custer made his last stand. Humans had exchanged it upon seeing their homes burning in the wake of the Deng Incursions.

That smile was full of hate, and a smug knowledge that someone, somewhere, was about to have an unbelievably bad day. One that was virtually assured by the twenty-five nuclear-tipped missiles that the Bolo and Golem had launched.

Galactic Codex

_Ascension_-class Dreadnaught

The _Ascension_-class dreadnaught was first constructed by the Asari in the closing years of the Geth Wars. The first member of the line, the _Victorious Ascension,_ was at the time the most powerful and advanced starship ever constructed by the Citadel Races, or even to any race who knew of the Citadel. Nearly bankrupting the Asari Repulbics in its construction, the ship quickly proved its weight, single-handedly wiping out Geth Incursions. Some have said that the _Ascension-_class brought about the end of the war, but the Geth were already in decline by the time the ship was produced. The Asari went on to build three more of the ships following the war, but due to their unbelievable cost and the titanic amount of time and resources needed to build one, no more were produced. Thus, there were only four members of the _Ascension_-class: the _Victorious Ascension,_ the _Triumphant Ascension,_ the _Destiny Ascension,_ and the _Glorious Ascension._ That number is now down to only three, as the _Glorious Ascension_ was destroyed when its mass effect core was sabotaged by the Elcor terrorist group "Defiant: Freedom for All Elcor Peoples," a group dedicated to making the Elcor a galactic superpower independent of the Asari.

These ships represent a colossal investment in terms of weapons and fighting ability, as their kinetic barriers are stronger than almost any ship known, except for a few examples of Prothean technology. The armor of the ship is nearly twenty meters thick, and has the equivalent firepower of a full destroyer group (ten destroyers, twenty frigates, assorted supply ships). Thusly, they are usually posted at sensitive spots, or spots that show off their power. The _Victorious Ascension_ has a permanent posting at the Asari homeworld of Thesia, while the _Destiny Ascension_ is assigned to protect the Council as a member of the Citadel Fleet. The _Triumphant Ascension_ was posted at Illium, to protect the world from Terminus raiders, but was reassigned to the fleet to take out the Concordiat world of Shangxi.

At the end of the Concordiat-Citadel war, the Asari began to lay down the keel for a new, much more powerful ship, known as the _Ascension-II-_class. It is scheduled to be unveiled in 2183 CE.

Concordiat Relay Classifications

The Concordiat, in the decade or so that they have been studying the Mass Relays, have developed several terms for these gravetic catapults.

A **local** catapult is one that is capable of sending one to multiple different relays, but the range is limited.

A **direct** catapult only connects to one other relay, but the range is much greater, possibly cross-galactic.

An **insystem** catapult is a relay that leads back into Concordiat space, towards the central worlds.

An **outsystem** catapult does precisely the opposite- a catapult that leads away from Concordiat space.

A **locked** catapult is one that hasn't been activated yet.

An **open** or **unlocked** catapult has been activated.

For example, a relay might be considered a direct outsystem catapult that was unlocked two years ago, meaning that it only connects to one other relay, the relay is not sending you closer to Concordiat Space, and that it was activated two years ago.

The Dinochrome Brigade

The Dinochrome Brigade is not, as the name would suggest, a brigade in the strictest sense of the word. The Dinochrome Brigade stemmed from the 45th Armored Company in the 2130's, where Bolos were deployed in groups for the first time. Upon seeing the type of firepower that a company of these primitive machines could put out, one observer stated that the amount of fire the Bolos put out was equivalent to a brigade of standard flesh-and-blood soldiers. Reportedly, someone responded, "Yes, that's what they are. A brigade. A Dinochrome Brigade (Terrible Metal Brigade)." The name stuck, and since the year 2178, the Dinochrome Brigade has been the sole installation in the Concordiat responsible for the care and operation of Bolos.

Hellbores and Hellrails

Hell-type weapons are terrifying weapons of unbelievable destructive power, as is befitting their name. A ten-centimeter hellbore can have the same destructive force as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and most hellbore-equipped machines tend to mount them in sizes and numbers many times that. The Mark XXVI, the most advanced Bolo produced at the time of the Concordiat-Council War, mounted a single 90 centimeter hellbore cannon, capable of putting out two to two-and-a-half megatons worth of firepower every second, with a recharge time of four seconds.

Hellbores and their larger cousins, the hellrails, use slivers of highly-pressurized frozen deuterium which, when fired, are ignited (by a laser) in a fusion reaction. The resulting bolt is contained and directed using strong magnetic fields in the breech and barrel. The resulting plasma travels at a considerable fraction of light speed and is not affected by planetary gravity. However, since the hellbore was designed as naval armament for Concordiat warships, modifications had to be made to avoid losing a significant portion of the shot's energy to atmospheric attenuation. To this end, a fraction of a second prior to deuterium detonation, a laser is fired along the path of the bolt to create a momentary vacuum. Later Bolo marks are capable of internally manufacturing hellbore rounds, using water as a raw material, whereby the deuterium isotope of hydrogen is separated and cooled cryogenically into splinters of frozen hydrogen.

Mk. XXVI Bolo

The Mk. XXVI Bolo was the most recently released model of Bolo at the time of the war. The Mark XXVI was the first Bolo to incorporate improved "hyper-heuristic" features based on the work of Major Marina Stavrakas. Armament, size, weight, and speed remained largely unchanged from the Mark XXV, but the Mark XXVI was capable of constructing a "learning model" in accelerated time. In some ways, this almost equated to precognition, in that the Mark XXVI could project changes in an enemy's tactical or strategic actions before even the _enemy_ realized he intended to change them. The new systems also meant that, accompanied by a much improved ability to break hostile communications security, a Mark XXVI could actually invade an opponent's data net, access his computers, scan them for useful data, and (in some cases) even implant its own directions in those computers.

Armaments:

1 90 cm Hellbore (Primary Weapon, firepower of 2-2.5 megatons/second)

18 Ion Bolt Infinite Repeater Cannons

VLS Missile Launch System

6 30 cm morters

Speed: 95 KPH road speed, 150 KPH sprint speed

Weight: 13,000 tons

Golem V Manned Heavy Weapons Platform

Virtually a clone of the Mk. XXV Bolo, which is itself virtually identical to the Mk. XXVI Bolo (weapons wise,) the Golem is non-sentient, and has much of the advanced psychotronics software and hardware removed. It's piloted almost entirely by human beings, with complex computer programs to help work the guns and steer it. They were first produced in the mid 2900's, and were sold in limited numbers to allies of the Concordiat. Some, however, fell into criminal hands, or were purchased by PDF forces who wanted the firepower of a Bolo without requiring an AI. Later models of Golems, once the war ended, were advanced even further, using 'VI's' (virtual intelligences) to increase efficiency without granting them self-awareness.

Self-Propelled Artillery-Tracked (SPAT)

A mobile, ten-centimeter hellbore on tank treads. Larger and faster than the M1 Abrams tank of the years before WWIII, the SPAT is capable of fording rivers, crossing rough territory and comes with built-in anti-personal lasers.

M-22 Sharpnose

Starting a proud tradition of APC's being named after sharks, the Sharpnose is similar in many ways to its later descendant, the Mako. Six wheels and heavy armor protect a squad of up to twenty people comfortably, thirty with difficulty. An ion bolt repeater is the secondary weapon, while a single heavy laser cannon is the primary one. Capable of moving at speeds of 130 KPH, they are invaluable for transporting troops over even the roughest terrain.

Skimmer

A one-to-three man ship capable of flight at close to 500 KPH. Armed with a rapid-fire needler, but not meant for combat, as it was designed for manned reconnaissance.

Needler:

Slang term for the X-13 Hypersonic Gauss pistol. Fires shards of metal at extremely high velocity. The term "Needler," can encompass a wide variety of weapons, including needle cannons, needle rifles, and pistols, but they all refer to weapons that utilize gauss technology to accelerate shards of metal to hypersonic velocities.

Sithking Zero: Portions of the text, primarily that on Hellbores and Bolos, come from other sources and are not my words. The text on Hellbores comes from the Wikipedia article on Bolos, while the article on the Mark XXVI Bolo is taken from the book "BOLO!" by David Weber and other authors.

Some people have suggested that the Citadel has been acting arrogant, that it expects people to obey its laws. I can't really judge that in the standard ME universe, because as a human, you're part of the Citadel. Heck, you're basically a member of the special-forces, SWAT-commando Jack-Bauer-esque cops. You know? It's kind hard to judge. The one instance that I can say definitively that is a little arrogant is the First Contact war, where they went to war with humanity over a law the humans didn't know existed. If it was a simple case of mistaken identity, and they thought the humans were a pirate gang, that might be okay, but that would have been easily solved by calling them and asking, "Who are you?" if they respond and they're not a species you've ever seen before, I'd say take them aside and talk it out. They were arrogant there. Oh, and the Quarian thing? That wasn't really "arrogant," so much as "being jerks."

In the Ascendant-verse, the Council _did_ talk to the crew of the _Apogee_ first, and, rather sensibly, let them off the hook for a crime they didn't know existed. The reason why they reacted so strongly about AI's is not- I repeat, NOT arrogance. That was honest fear and hatred. Arrogance is, to quote the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions." Now, it would have been arrogant if the council simply stated to the Concordiat, "We are the Council. We rule the galaxy, we're so much better than you because we fought off the Krogans and the Rachni, get rid of your AI's or else." That would be if Canon!Council met the Concordiat. Now, Ascendant!Council has fought two incredibly destructive wars against rogue AI forces, the Destrons and the Geth, both of whom admitted that they viewed organic life forms as their enemies after following "Logical Patterns." That's not to mention the Krogan Rebellion, which started at the beginning because the Destrons released the Salarian-made Genophage. This is a Council that has seen what psychotic AI's can do at their worst, and knows exactly how dangerous they can be. One analogy I offered to a reviewer is that, well, if your neighbor built a grill of a certain design, and it caught fire and burned your lawn, you'd be ticked, right? And then, the neighbor on your other side built the same model of grill, and it broke and burned down your yard again. Now, you get a new neighbor (behind your house, not on the sides.) This one starts building a third grill in his yard. Is it arrogant to walk up to him and try to get him to stop? You've seen what happens what that grill is completed, and it involves buying new grass and patio furniture. Except replace "Grill," with "AI," "Buying new grass," with "Decades of war against a hostile power that has us outclassed in terms of raw production capability," and "Patio Furnature," with "Xenocide and possible extinction of all organic life."

Now, members of the conquest fleet- THEY have been written to be arrogant. Why wouldn't they? They have one of the most powerful ships in the galaxy- an _Ascension_-class dreadnaught- and about two hundred and fifty other ships against one species, whose ships have proven to be flimsy and fragile (despite the fact that the only ships they've encountered have been scouts caught with their pants down, and unable to resist). Besides, they're the big, bad Citadel! Their forces drove off all the bad guys the Citadel has faced in the past. They hold the line against the forces of evil. The fleet is made up entirely of Asari and Turians- two of the most powerful races in the galaxy, followed only by the Salarians.

This chapter was pretty hard for me, as the Hellbore weapons provide an unexpected difficulty. They're just so effective against Citadel ships, and they fire so rapidly! How the hell am I gonna make this even?

If only the war happened after Soverign was defeated. I do plan to have the Thanix cannon be roughly on par with Hellbores in terms of destructive power, simply because of what it is and because of the need for an equalizer. Seriously, people, I need some advice on how the Citadel, with an Ascension-class dreadnaught, can make this at least sorta not-one-sided.


End file.
